Schools' Learning Gateway – live information for parents, pupils and staff
Teachers, parents and students will soon have easy access to live school information and learning resources online.
What will the Gateway do?
Parents can view timetables, school events calendars and notices, and have secure access to their child’s test results and progress reports. They can see how their child is doing, and whether they might need extra help. They will be able to see daily attendance records, and check that their child has arrived safely at school and attended lessons.
School pupils will have a secure online portal to their test results, pupil discussion forums, lesson times and other events. The plan is for the system to become the single access point for pupils to see all school information securely online including learning materials from their school’s virtual learning environment.
Teachers will have greater access to pupil information outside of school – they will be able to complete reports and lesson plans at a time convenient to them – these more flexible working arrangements will allow them to complete certain jobs at home rather than stay behind at school.
I think this is an extremely exciting project that really enables us to use IT technology to improve links between schools and parents’, improve flexibility for teachers, and lay the foundations for pupils to access much more school information at home.
Mark Jones, Deputy Head Eastbourne Technology College.
When can I see it?
The County Council and Capita have been working with a group of eight schools since November 2007 in order to implement a pilot for the SIMS Learning Gateway. Following the success of the pilot the gateway will now be rolled out to all of the county’s 27 secondary schools, 10 special schools and 157 primary schools from September 2008.
What about security?
Access to relevant data is strictly controlled by usernames and passwords, so information can only be seen by the people authorised to see it. Parents will be able to see general information for the whole school, but are restricted to viewing only their child’s attendance and assessment information. The system complies with the Data Protection Act.
Background information
The SIMS Learning Gateway is a single, secure web-based gateway into a school’s SIMS management information system and other standard school applications. The SIMS management information system is used by around 22,000 schools in the UK to manage pupil data. All maintained schools in East Sussex use this system.
The County Council has signed a contract with Capita to supply all schools across the county with the new secure Internet interface system. East Sussex will host the technology for the schools in the area so the management of the SIMS Learning Gateway is handled centrally, saving time and money.
